It seems Pinterest are building up some steam! This week I've seen a number of posts relating to Pinterest and they've caught my attention. As a Pinterest user myself, it's been interesting to read about the social bookmarking site from a marketing angle.

So, what is Pinterest?In their words "Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes."I've used the site for over a year now, though I'm a little intermittent with my 'pinning', and I use it as an 'inspiration' board full of ideas and images that catch my eye. Think of it as the pinboard you keep in your kitchen, your study or your office and anything you pin to that board as cut outs from a magazine or catalogue. You can categorise your pins onto 'pinboards', with popular categories including home decor, food and wedding inspiration.

That's all very nice isn't it, but how can ecommerce sites utilise the social bookmarking site you ask?With many users now creating wishlists of items they want, or are looking to buy and the ability to link these pins direct to a retailer's website there is an opportunity to generate more traffic to your website. Users can even indicate how much a product costs, which allows visitors to browse 'Gifts' by price.

A few ideas for using Pinterest for Marketing- Promote a lifestyle- Use it like a focus group- Crowdsource- Run contests- Inspire- Invite people to pin your products with a 'Pin it' buttonYou can find these ideas and more information in Mashable's Pinterest Infographic and further reading over at HubSpot blog. Feel free to leave your thoughts on Pinterest in the comments section below.Pinterest is still in invite only mode but if you'd like to give it a go send me your email address [gemma at storefeeder dot com] and I'll drop you an invite.